


The One Heart Way

by theremin



Category: Karate Kid (Movies)
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-02
Updated: 2021-03-14
Packaged: 2021-03-15 00:01:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29799870
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/theremin/pseuds/theremin
Summary: In this one Daniel doesn't get to go to Okinawa.
Relationships: Daniel LaRusso/Johnny Lawrence
Comments: 119
Kudos: 147





	1. Chapter 1

Whatever happened to Johnny Lawrence?

It was one of those questions that would come up every once in a while, during lunch, while idling during recess or in some late night conversation on the beach. Because man, that guy had it all. He was tall, hot, an athlete, world in the palm of his hand, right? But on the other hand, he was also kind of a prick, and a lot of people were pretty glad he wasn't around anymore. So once all the theories had been rehashed and repeated – I heard he’s a model now, I heard he transferred to a different school, I heard he got hooked on drugs, you know his sensei? I heard his sensei fucking killed him man – the topic of conversation would drift elsewhere, nobody really caring enough to go into some deep investigation. 

But here’s the thing, even if they had asked around, not even the people who really should have known, knew. Kids whose parents were friends with Johnny’s mom and dad. Ali didn’t know, pretty sure they used to date for like, years. His little karate crew, who seemed to scatter in every direction after the tournament, man those guys used to be tight as hell, couldn’t tell you. Dutch got expelled anyway, they caught him selling speed in the locker rooms. Bobby got a girlfriend and was too busy aggressively frenching her to come up for air, let alone talk about Johnny. 

After the tournament and after Christmas break Johnny had just been gone, halfway through his senior year, and that’s all really anyone knew.

*

Daniel LaRusso was a pretty deep sleeper. It was a useful talent, he’d always lived on noisy streets, in thin-walled apartment blocks. Currently, however, he was alone in a very quiet house in a very quiet part of the Valley and there was nothing around to disturb his coma sleeps anyway. 

Which is probably why he jerked awake at the noise of a thud. The very fact that it wasn’t supposed to be there made it sound like a siren. The thud sounded like someone, or something, landing on the ground. It wasn’t a crash, it was a thud, blunt and low. Deliberate. 

The adrenaline raced through Daniel’s body, his ears keened, his eyes were wide open, instinct taking over and trying to get him used to the low light, ready for confrontation. He listened. Footsteps. But not in the house. Outside. Slowly, softly, he slid sideways, until his body reached the edge of the bed. He pushed away the covers, placed one bare foot on the floor, then slowly pushed up to standing, not making a sound. He walked gingerly across the room, heels first. Quietly. 

He didn’t go out the front door. There was a side door, near the kitchen, a small one that led into the garden. On bare feet, he was silent in the grass. It was dewy and cold and that sharpened his senses even more. 

Suddenly, on a base level, Daniel LaRusso understood the nature of self defense. Getting your ass kicked every day at school, that was kind of one thing. Getting into fights because your mouth was the biggest part of your body. This? This was survival.

He was on his own.

And nobody knew where he was. 

And only feet away, was an intruder.

Two and a half weeks earlier, Daniel LaRusso had had the argument that led to him now being on his own and about to square down with a possible burglar. He very rarely fought with his mom. It had been just the two of them, against the world, for so long. His aunts and uncles, her friends, used to comment on what a good kid Daniel was. How do you do it, Lucille? they’d ask. Can’t get even get mine to put their dirty clothes in the hamper. Tell us your secrets. But the respect he felt for his mom had not been borne out of anything harsh or threatening or manipulative, but out of love. He’d swallow his pride if the alternative was seeing sadness or disappointment on his mother’s bright face. So they didn’t really fight.

Except when they did, and when they did, it was loud. And there was a lot of gesturing. The apartment didn’t feel big enough to hold the argument. She gathered her fingers together on both hands – oh god, the double version – and rocked them in front of her chest.

“For the last time, Daniel, the answer is no!”

“Ma! His dad is going to die! Like, you have any idea how much Mr Miyagi has done for me?”

“Of course I know! And he’s a grown man, and he wouldn’t want you throwing your future away to accompany him to Okinawa!”

“I’m not throwing my future away! Maybe slightly putting it on hold. I’ll get a job when I get back, I’ll save up!”

“You’ll save up? You know how long I saved up for your college fund, Daniel? You know why? So you can get an education, so you can get a good job-”

“Ah ma!” He swung both hands out to the side, knocked a glass from a table, it shattered to the ground.

“Now look what you did!”

“Ma, I never ask you for anything-”

“Move, get out of the way, don’t step in it.” Armed with a marigold glove and a plastic bag she started picking glass pieces off the floor. She looked up at him. Even crouching on the floor, she could make him feel small. “Daniel, this discussion is over. You are not using your college money on a plane ticket to Okinawa, end of story. You are coming to Fresno with me.”

“You can’t make me! I’m eighteen!” Daniel said, stalked out of the apartment, slammed the door behind him. There wasn’t enough room anymore in the apartment for him, his mom and the argument. 

Usually, Daniel caved to his mom. In the very rare occasion they did fight he’d come crawling back after having blown off a little steam, apologize, hug her, do it her way. This time, he didn’t. 

In fact, he lied to her. That was definitely a first.

He told her Mr Miyagi had offered to pay for his plane ticket. 

It had been a stupid, careless whim. He just truly, truly did not want to go to Fresno, did not want to share a bed with his mom in Louie’s guest room like he was still a baby, did not want to find out the kids in Fresno liked him as little as the kids in the Valley did. He figured this way he could at least look after Mr Miyagi’s bonsai trees. 

And then his mom, because she was a mom who would give him the world if she could only afford it, had hugged him, given him her full blessing to go with Mr Miyagi, dragged him into the car, taken him downtown and argued at a clerk until they agreed to expedite his first passport immediately, and got him thirty dollars in travelers’ checks. And as a very inexperienced liar, Daniel hadn’t been prepared for the way one could spin out of control, and how admitting to one might feel, for both himself and the person he lied to, who after all was the person he loved the most in this life. And it was all happening so quick, anyway. So he just kind of rolled with it. 

When his mom had pushed a packed suitcase at him, driven him off for the bus stop for the airport with the fare in his pocket, kissed him goodbye, told him to have a wonderful time, how sorry she was about the fight, and to send her a postcard, he’d just stood there, watched her drive off. The bus arrived, rolled to a stop and the door opened.

“Wrong stop,” he told the driver, grabbed his suitcase and started walking. And a very wide grin spread out on his face. He didn’t think about what would happen when his mom found out. He didn’t think about how little money he had. He didn’t think about what he was going to do on his own for a whole summer. All he cared about was, he wasn’t going to Fresno. He walked all seven miles to Mr Miyagi’s empty house and let himself in with the key in the flowerpot.

Maybe panic should have sunk in at some point. 

But as it turned out, being on his own, was… kind of amazing. He’d felt guilty enough about the fight and the lie to pick up some college catalogs, trying to get a clue where to apply and what to study, but most days weren’t spent thinking about the future. He did his katas on the beach, he read library books about karate and Japan and silly martial arts thrillers, he rode around on his bike, he listened to music, he slept until noon. He conscientiously watered, trimmed and fertilized the bonsai trees, talking to them all the while, figuring there was no harm in that as long as they didn’t start talking back. He tended the garden, reveled in its beauty. 

And then, one night, he heard a noise.

He could see the intruder, trying the locked guest house, where Daniel was supposed to be sleeping, if Mr Miyagi hadn’t been called away. He was big. Daniel had no idea if he was armed. Daniel walked up, quietly, quietly, then he did a high kick to the small of the intruder’s back, and he expected a collapse but he only staggered, shit he must be strong, he turned around and Daniel roundhoused him, got him in the chin, he flew into the side of the guest house wall, sagged against it, Daniel punched him in the kidneys and he curled up on the ground, swearing.

“Stop, stop it for fuck’s sake.”

Daniel’s foot stopped mid-kick. He knew that voice. Squinting in the dark, he knew that face.

“Johnny?”


	2. Chapter 2

"What the hell are you doing here? You scared me half to death! I ought to kick your ass just for that!!" Daniel felt the adrenaline in his body lose focus and crash, and his legs started trembling.

"Like you could," Johnny said, rising to his full height, wincing a little. "you just caught me by surprise."

"Surprised you into the wall," Daniel said in a sulky voice. "again. What are you doing here?"

"You said the place was empty."

Daniel stared. "I- it wasn't an invitation!"

*

The day two days prior had been another long careless summer day. Daniel had woken up at around eleven, padded into the bonsai room and giving the little trees a nice spritz of water to keep their leaves green and plump, hey guys, who wants a drink, just a little one, aw you're looking shiny today! before taking a turn around the garden and pulling up some errant weeds. He'd made his customary breakfast (cereal), then packed a water bottle, some slices of white bread, a jar of peanut butter and taken his bike out. He'd gone for a pretty long ride, just looking at the different neighborhoods, saying hello to the people he knew or kinda knew, then gone to the library.

"Hi Daniel," one of the librarians told him. "I've got a new addition I've put aside for you."

"For me, really? Aw come on," he said, flashing the smile that tended to melt the heart of any woman thirty and over, but had a middling success rate on those his own age. Oh well, sooner or later it would come in useful. 

"We got a big box of donations a week ago, most of it went in the trash but there was one of them I knew somebody would want to borrow."

She opened a drawer and pulled out a book with a bonsai tree on the cover. 

"Shibumi," Daniel read out loud. "Nicholai Hel is the world’s most wanted man. Born in Shanghai during the chaos of World War I, he is the son of an aristocratic Russian mother and a mysterious German father and is the protégé of a Japanese Go master... oh this looks amazing!"

After that he'd gone out to the beach, sat on the sand, listened to Springsteen on his walkman, ate sandwiches and read, and suddenly it was late, dusky, the other people going off elsewhere for their dinners, dates, lives. 

"Shit," a voice said, somewhere behind the music. "Daniel LaRusso."

Daniel looked up, pulled his headphones off, and recognized Johnny Lawrence. His hair was a little shorter, he didn't have those stupid curtain bangs anymore, and he looked kind of- kind of drawn. Skinnier? He used to always wear fancy clothes with cool labels, but now his jeans and T-shirt had holes in them. Still had the flashy red jacket though. Daniel hadn't seen him for months. He'd dropped out of high school sometime after the tournament and honestly, good riddance. Then, to Daniel's surprise, he sat down next to him on the sand. 

"Uh," he said, a little uncomfortable. "hi, Johnny. What have you been up to? You changed schools, right?"

"No," Johnny said. 

"Oh. You working now, or?"

"Or."

At least he was still as charming as ever. 

"Right, right."

"You don't have anything to eat, do you?"

Of all the things he'd expected Johnny Lawrence to say, that was about last on the list. Eyebrows crashing downwards in suspicion, he reached for his plastic bag of stuff, got out the last slice of white bread and lathered it in peanut butter, handed it over. Johnny took it without thanking, like a damn sea gull, and ate it slowly. But it looked like a struggle, his face looked all tense, like he really wanted to scarf the thing down. Weird.

"How you been, Johnny?"

Johnny shrugged. "Got anything to drink?"

Daniel handed over his water bottle.

"Got anymore?" Johnny asked.

"Sorry, man. Last slice."

Johnny nodded, licked his fingers. "Good stuff. So, you still training?"

Daniel shrugged. "Mostly on my own. My sensei, Mr Miyagi, he's in Okinawa right now." He sighed, feeling the sting of loss. "I wanted to go, but I couldn't afford the plane ticket. My mom wouldn't let me use my college money."

Johnny frowned. "How long is he going to be away for?"

"Dunno. All summer. Probably longer. He hasn't been back to Japan for years." Daniel scratched his arm. “But I'm trying to keep up with training, you know. On my own. But it's not the same.”

"I know," Johnny said.

"Yeah, guess you do, huh. Whatever happened to your sensei?"

"Don't know," Johnny said, then got up. "don't care. See you around."

Daniel watched him walk down the beach, and for some reason he found himself really missing his mom.

*

Johnny looked supremely unperturbed by the fact he'd just been caught basically breaking and entering into Mr Miyagi's house. "I need somewhere to crash," he said. "I didn't know you were going to be here. Why aren't you at your place?"

"I'm house-sitting," Daniel said. It was close enough to the truth.

"Well, you don't need all this space," Johnny said, reasonably.

"What? What are you talking about? You can't stay here!"

"There are literally two houses, and there are two of us."

"No!"

"I could pay."

Daniel frowned. In no way, shape or form did he want Johnny freaking Lawrence camping out in the garden. Even if he hadn't spent the first half of senior year actively trying to kill Daniel, the thought of the big ox trampling through Mr Miyagi's flowers made him shudder. Was he even house-trained?

However.

He could really use the money. Out of the thirty-five dollars he'd started the summer of independence with (the thirty dollars in traveler's checks he'd exchanged back, plus the fiver his mom had given him for bus fare and a soda at the airport), he had only seventeen left, and he'd really like to eat something besides cereal, peanut butter, white bread and spaghetti with ketchup. But then again, Johnny Lawrence had money? Sure, he was a rich Hills guy, but the day before he'd literally bummed food off him, off _him_ , the guy he'd probably not as much as give a courtesy piss if his hair was on fire. And he looked like shit.

"You have money?"

"I'll give you twenty bucks."

"Fifty," Daniel said.

"To sleep in the shed? What the fuck."

"It's a guest house," Daniel said, affronted. "it's real nice."

"Thirty."

"Forty."

"Thirty-five, final offer."

Daniel chewed his lip. That would effectively double his summer funds. If he was super careful he could probably make it last for another month or so. God damn it. 

"When Mr Miyagi comes back, you gotta go. You can't make a big mess or have people over. And you can't touch his stuff, especially not his trees or flowers, you have to promise to be careful. You're not allowed inside the bonsai room at all."

"What's a banzai room?"

"You listening, or what?"

"Yeah, yeah. I hear you. Fine, all of it."

"And I want payment up front."

Johnny turned around, away from Daniel, reached into the pocket of his jacket, and was obviously counting out bills. He turned back around, handed them over. Daniel took them a little suspiciously. Then he put his hand out, and Johnny shook it.

Daniel unlocked the guest house, heard Johnny go “sweet” under his breath when he saw the bed, then he went inside and locked all the doors. He counted out the money – all there – and knew he had made the biggest mistake of his life.


	3. Chapter 3

There were drums, drumming, war drums, throbbing and loud and Daniel was running, either from or towards them, he wasn't quite sure yet. Then he blinked awake and the steady knock-knock-knock didn't stop and then he realized there was someone at the door. Who the hell? He fell out of bed in a mess of long limbs and staggered over, opened up, and there was Johnny in a black T-shirt and boxers.

"What the hell man?" 

Johnny crowded him, walked inside, while Daniel rubbed his face, his nose. "No bathroom in the guest house, so unless you want me to shit in the garden, I suggest you stop locking the door."

"What time is it? Uh, door to the right."

He looked at the digital clock by the bedside. 9? In the _morning_? Who needed a nine in the morning. He fell back into bed, cocooned himself in the sheets. When he came to a couple of hours later Johnny was in the kitchen, eating cereal. Daniel rubbed his eyes.

"Dude. I can't remember agreeing to room _and_ board. Why are you even in here? Thought I told you to stay out."

"Got hungry."

"See, a normal person would go buy some damn groceries then."

"Yeah, about that. We need to talk."

"We do?" Daniel said, got a bowl out of the cupboard and grabbed the cereal and milk. "I was under the impression you sleep in the guest house and stay out of my way."

"I need to lay low for a while. I don't want you telling anyone I'm here."

"Yeah, like that's something to brag about."

"I'm serious!" Johnny's blue eyes went wide.

"Okay, okay."

"And I probably shouldn't leave the house too much, so I was thinking, maybe you could get groceries and stuff for me. I'll give you money for it."

Daniel's spoon stopped right in front of his mouth. "Did- did you kill somebody, or something?"

"No, yeesh. But some people are looking for me and I don't want to be found."

"Why are they looking for you?"

"Don't worry about it. Just some assholes looking to kick my ass.”

“I’m not shopping for you,” Daniel said. “you’re deranged.”

Johnny looked a little frustrated. “You have a car, right?”

“Yeah? You can’t borrow it.”

“Just to pick up some food, then straight back.”

“No way.” He sighed. “I’ll drive you, though. Just let me get dressed.”

“Tonight,” Johnny said. He got up, put the empty bowl in the sink and walked for the door. “see you later.”

Daniel's mouth fell open. “I'm not doing your dishes for you!” he shouted after him.

*

Daniel kind of wanted to go out, but he kind of wanted to keep an eye on Johnny too. He wasn't sure what he'd do, exactly, but that was all the more reason to find out. He got a garden chair out, brought his book and his walkman, and sat in the garden. Johnny didn't step outside for hours. Daniel, having run out of patience, got up, gently opened the screen door. Johnny was sprawled on the bed, sleeping in a kind of running pose, head tilted to the side. He closed the door again.

Daniel was watching one of Mr Miyagi's VHS's (he taped them off the television, conscientiously pausing during commercials) with his feet on the table. The door opened and Johnny lumbered in, went off for the bathroom, then Daniel could hear the shower start running. Johnny came out wearing one of Mr Miyagi's towels around his waist and sat down next to him.

“What are you watching?”

Daniel inched away a little. “Uh. Bonnie and Clyde. Old uh... movie.”

“Who's the babe?”

Johnny put a foot up against the table edge, and the towel rode down his thigh. Daniel looked rigidly ahead. 

“She uh. Well, that's Bonnie, and she and her boyfriend are bank robbers and um on the run from the police, it's a real manhunt...”

Daniel warbled the plot and Johnny kept asking questions, stupid, annoying questions, he could just watch the damn movie. And then it ended and then Johnny walked off for the guest house, came back wearing jeans and a long sleeve shirt and nodded.

“Let's go.”

Johnny didn't want to go to anywhere actually close and convenient, kept navigating from the passenger seat. Daniel tried to play it like he was annoyed but he was glad to be out of the house. He mostly used his bike, to save on gas money, so it was nice to drive, too. 

“Think anywhere will still be open?” It was getting kinda dark. The stars were beginning to show in the sky. And the houses they passed were further and further apart.

“Take a right at the next intersection.”

God, you could get better conversation out of the bonsai trees. Daniel leaned in to turn up the radio and “Boys of Summer” filled the car. Johnny reached for the dial. 

“Shotgun chooses the music.”

“Forget about it,” Daniel said, slapping his hand away. “not in this car.” He started singing along, loud and off-key. _”I'm driving by your house, though I know you're not home, but I can see you, your brown skin shinin in the sun...”_

_”...you got your hair combed back and your sunglasses on...”_ Johnny joined in, quietly, almost under his breath. Ha. Everybody liked that song.

Finally they reached a dusty strip mall. There were only a few other cars parked outside.

“Sure it's open? This looks like a ghost town in the Yukon. It looks haunted.”

“It's open for another half hour or so.”

“Oh, I don't know about this.” 

But he followed Johnny inside. The whole place was pretty empty, there were only a few other shoppers around. But man, the place was huge. Johnny grabbed a shopping cart, strode off. Daniel kind of looked around. The place was lit in cold white neon light, acres of stuff lay in every direction. Daniel grinned. 

“Where are you going?” Johnny asked.

He walked over to the compact discs – god, he wanted a CD player – and looked at the available samples. Madonna. Simple Minds. DeBarge. Springsteen. Hell yes! He pressed the button and “Born In The USA” started playing. 

Johnny frowned. “They got any Twisted Sister?”

“Twisted Sister,” Daniel scoffed. “this is real songwriting. And he's a Jersey boy, like me.”

“Strike one,” Johnny said. “come on, we don't have all night.”

Daniel stopped again in the clothes section, put on a baseball cap. “What do you think?”

“Can you find something that covers your whole head? Or just your mouth?”

Daniel sighed, pulled the cap off, and trailed after Johnny into the grocery section. Johnny started kind of uncritically pulling stuff down from the shelves. Potato chips, crackers, lunch meat, cheese slices. Daniel blinked. It'd been a while since he'd eaten anything... remotely fresh. Johnny grabbed cupcakes and hot pockets and apples and soda. His mouth watered a little. 

“These are really good,” he said, grabbing a packet of Hostess Pudding Pies. “you should get them.” Johnny shrugged and Daniel put them in the cart.

_”Attention shoppers. We will close in ten minutes.”_

“Oh damn!” Daniel said. 

“Shit,” Johnny said, started walking fast, pushing the cart in front of him, nearly running.

“Hey, hold up,” Daniel said, then jumped to hold onto the front side of the cart, foot on the carriage underneath, grinning wide.

“What are you, five?”

“No, but there's like five minutes until they close and we passed the cash registers like three sections ago,” he said with a contrite look on his face, gripping on tight to the cart. Johnny rolled his eyes- then he started pushing again, half-running, while Daniel held on, laughing.


	4. Chapter 4

“I'm gonna die,” Daniel said.

“Shut up,” Johnny said.

“I'm gonna throw up. And then I'm gonna die.”

Johnny was lying on his back on Mr Miyagi's small sofa, and Daniel was sprawled out over an armchair, long legs splayed ungracefully. The floor was covered in empty wrappers and bags.

It had been an orgy.

Doritos and Hostess Cupcakes and Twinkies and Pudding Pies and Pringles and Snickers and Coke and Nerds and Jelly Beans.

Daniel had eaten very modestly over the last couple weeks. He didn't mind, not really, food was fuel and all that, but it hadn't exactly been by choice either, so when faced with Johnny's bags and bags and bags of groceries, especially when it became clear he was willing to share, well, things had gone a little overboard. And Johnny had been just as bad. Shovelling it down like he hadn't seen food in weeks. They'd barely even talked, just eaten and eaten, while MTV was playing in the background, Johnny grabbing the remote to turn the sound up whenever there was a song he liked. His taste was pretty much exactly what you would expect it to be. Motley Crüe, Twisted Sister, Halloween, Kiss, all the big stupid macho rock bands. A Sade video was playing now, and Daniel glanced over at the screen. She was so pretty. Real sophisticated. 

“Hey, Johnny?”

“Uh”

“How do you think Sade likes skinny, dark-haired eighteen year olds from Jersey who know karate?”

Johnny scoffed. “Out of her sight.”

“Might make a nice change from the grody old guys in her videos though. I mean, that guy just cheated on her. I wouldn't treat Sade like that.”

“Should we have like, a system?” Johnny asked. Daniel was confused, he thought they were discussing strategy for seducing classy English ladies with tight ponytails. “For when you have people over. Like, a sock on the doorknob kinda system.”

“Huh? Sock? You're having nobody over, I already told you.”

“Not me, you.”

“Me?” Daniel was tired, it was the middle of the night, and he was so full it was like it was stuffed all the way into his toes and fingers. “I don't have people over.”

“What about your friends?”

“Oh, all my friends. You know, Johnny, the first day I spent in the Valley some big idiot beat me up on the beach and I turned into kinda a leper after that.”

There was an awkward silence.

“What about Ali?”

“What about her, man? She broke up with me.”

Daniel raised his hand to rub at his bottom lip with his thumb, a nervous gesture. He'd been kinda crazy about Ali. But Stuart – stupid fucking name – had been six four, a quarterback, and had sandy, floppy hair. And Daniel couldn't compete. Stuart and Ali looked right together. He and Ali never did. And maybe they never were. Right. He bet Mr Mills just loved Stuart. He hadn't even bothered learning Daniel's name. Said it was too difficult. LaRusso. Three syllables. When you're such a WASP it affects your cognitive abilities. 

“Hm,” Johnny said. “she'll do that.”

“Heh. Yeah.”

“She ever talk about why she broke up with me?”

Daniel rolled his eyes. “Oh yeah, Johnny Lawrence, all we ever did was talk about _you_.”

“It was just a question, you little twerp.”

“Well, she didn't. Why, what did you do?”

Another silence. God, Daniel thought. He really must be desperate for company, the way he kept making an effort with that guy. It was like hanging out with an albino gorilla with a chip on its shoulder. 

“I'm sorry,” he said, suddenly. “about giving you a hard time. And I'm sorry about the tournament. That wasn't the way I wanted it to go.”

“Yeah, you wanted to win.”

“Yeah, sure I did. And I wanted to win it right. Still kind of can't believe I lost to you, injured and all.”

“Yeah, thanks to your jerk friend.”

“Bobby?”

“Whatever. My knee still gets stiff sometimes. And you didn't help.” Daniel heard bitterness seep into his voice. He honestly hadn't thought he'd ever see Johnny Lawrence again, nevermind have a civil conversation with him, and he still wasn't sure what his whole deal even was. But now he was here, and he was probably whatever Johnny Lawrence's version of polite was, and he couldn't help himself.

“Bobby's not a jerk,” Johnny said decisively. “he's a good guy. Better than me.” He sighed. “But he fucked up, and so did I, listening to Kreese.” Daniel looked over at him, and Johnny's hands were folded over his stomach, his head tilted up, eyes to the ceiling, the bob of his adam's apple stark. “Yeah, I wanted to win, I wanted to kick your ass, but like, the best version of you, fighting the best version of me. Does that make sense?”

“Yeah.”

“Didn't winning help?”

“Huh?” 

“With like, the leper situation.”

“Uh- oh. Kinda, I guess. I remember being worried people would just pick on me more, to say they beat the All Valley Champion. But it wasn't like that. I felt like I got respect. People were nicer. But, I don't know, only a few months left of high school, everybody kinda already had their whole group... plus, I had Ali, hung out with her friends...” Daniel sighed. “Maybe college will be better.”

“Maybe.”

“And it's not like I don't have _any_ friends,” Daniel said. “I got Mr Miyagi.”

“That doesn't count, he's old.”

“Sure it does. I like hanging out with him. I mean, yeah, he's my teacher, but he's told me personal stuff about himself as well. Like, he was in the war, he was a hero. And his wife...” Daniel trailed off, not wanting to share all that. It wasn't his story to tell. “He had a hard life, but he's still so...” Daniel felt a smile blossom on his face. “still so funny and focussed and totally himself. Kinda gives me hope for the future, you know? Like, even if life is hard sometimes, it can be good later. It can be what you make it.”

“I don't know about that,” Johnny said, got up with a groan. “I think lives can be ruined. And then there's no coming back from it. I'm going to bed.”

He walked for the door.

Daniel frowned. Then he looked at all the trash on the floor. “Hey! I'm not cleaning up this mess after you!”

*

It was after noon when he woke up the next day. He got a juice box out of the fridge, felt disgusted by the thought of eating anything. Instead he spent about an hour with the bonsais. Time for your trim guys, I know you wanna look your best! Then he walked out into the garden, found Johnny Lawrence doing pushups on the grass. 

“Morning.”

“Hey.” He got up. “Wanna spar?”

He was all sweaty, a little flushed, wearing only shorts and a pair of red canvas shoes. 

“Uh, I'm a little rusty.”

“I'll go easy on you.”

Daniel stretched his arms, slung them to the side. “Kinda tough talk considering what happened last time.” But he bowed, holding eye contact, and Johnny, not reacting right away, bowed too.

Daniel assumed the fudo dachi stance.


	5. Chapter 5

Johnny took his wide legged stance, raised his fists up. He didn't look as scary as he had at the tournament, he just looked serious and calm. He was fucking big though. He looked like a man already, all broad and filled out. With a rough-voiced kiai - _hai_ \- he punched out, and Daniel blocked, other arm, block, then again and Johnny made contact that time.

“Damn,” Daniel breathed.

“You okay?”

“Yeah, just annoyed. I haven't been practicing like I should.”

They sparred easy and not too intense for a while, Daniel finding back to his focus and his speed, he got Johnny with an elbow, Johnny made contact with a knee. The sun was high and they were both working up a sweat, Johnny just in his shorts and shoes, Daniel barefeet in shorts and a sleeveless top. Then, Johnny came in with a side kick, and instead of stopping at the contact his leg slid up the side of Daniel's sweaty thigh and he lost his balance and fell flat on his back on the grass.

Daniel doubled over laughing.

“I guess this is why we wear gi,” he choked out, wiped tears from his face.

“That was so gross. Defeated by LaRusso juice.”

“Here.” Daniel reached out a hand and Johnny grabbed it, but he was so sweaty he lost his grip and Daniel started laughing again, laid down on the grass next to Johnny, catching his breath. 

“You're really good,” Johnny said. “nobody in your weight class has ever remotely posed a challenge before.”

“Well, Mr Miyagi isn't the biggest guy either.”

“How long did it take you to get to black belt?”

“Belts are for keeping your pants up,” Daniel said smugly.

“Huh?”

“Mr Miyagi doesn't believe in belts. They're not a Japanese thing, they're an American thing, it's like a psychological thing where we're just motivated by prizes or something like that.” He smiled. “Karate is a philosophy, and a way of life, and you can't really win at that. You can just keep studying.”

“Yeah, okay.”

“Hey, wanna go down to the beach? I could do with a swim after this.”

Johnny shook his head. “Nah, I'm just gonna hang out.”

“Oh yeah. I forgot. You're on the run. Like Clyde.”

Johnny tilted his head. “That make you Bonnie?”

“Buzz off.”

*

The next days were like- nice? Honestly it wasn't too bad having some company, even if that company was Johnny Lawrence, and Johnny seemed to appreciate Daniel, too. Who woulda thunk it. They sparred, and Johnny even agreed to do kata with him, got really good, he learned super fast, no wonder he was Cobra Kai's star pupil. Otherwise they watched MTV and Mr Miyagi's collection of VHS tapes, he had a real predilection for hoary old classics but some of them were really good, they took turns cooking though the repertoire was limited – canned soup, spaghetti with ketchup, mac and cheese – and Daniel even managed to harangue him into doing the dishes, when the tower of dirty plates was threatening to overpower the kitchen and they were reduced to eating mac and cheese out of coffee cups. Or well, he harangued him into helping. Daniel washed, Johnny dried. 

“I'm getting sick of mac and cheese,” Johnny said one day.

“How can you get sick of mac and cheese?” Daniel said, chewing. “Food of the gods.”

“We had a chef, at the house,” Johnny said, and Daniel's interest peaked. Not in Johnny's wealth but the fact he referred to his home life at all. “I miss her cooking.”

“Yeah, yeah. We weren't all born with a silver spoon up our ass. When it's just you and your mom and she works long hours you learn to appreciate mac and cheese, not that you would know what that's like.”

“Uh, yeah, I would.”

“Yeah? Did you watch a movie?”

Johnny frowned. “Sid is the one with the money. My stepdad.”

“I didn't know he was your stepdad,” Daniel said. 

“Yeah. He and my mom got together when I was ten, eleven? Before then it was mostly just me and her. I mean, she had boyfriends, but nothing that lasted, and some of them treated her real bad.”

Daniel looked over at him, drank thoughtfully from his Kool-Aid, and thought about his own mom. She'd gone on a few dates after Daniel's dad died, but nothing had turned out real serious. Whenever he asked about some guy who'd been in the picture briefly and then suddenly disappeared she was evasive, saying he wasn't funny enough, wasn't smart enough. Wasn't good enough. It always felt like she said, he wasn't your dad. Like if she couldn't love someone like that it wasn't worth the effort. It certainly wouldn't be worth getting treated bad.

“We lived in these shitty little apartments, went hungry more than once. But Sid had money and wanted to marry her.”

“What about your real dad? You ever see him?”

Johnny sighed. “I never even met him.”

“Oh. I'm sorry, Johnny.”

“When she first got with Sid, and we moved into his place, I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. My own room! A pool... even staff.” He sucked his teeth. “But Sid Weinberg is a fucking asshole and he will never give you a cent without reminding you of that for the rest of your life. And he treats my mom like she's stupid. Gets mad if she has the tenacity to eat dessert or the one time a year she talks back.” Johnny's eyes went dark. “I hate him.”

“That why you left home?”

Johnny shrugged. “Anyway, what I'm saying is, I know what it's like to be poor and I know what it's like to be rich, and I know that the most important thing is who you're poor or rich with.”

Daniel frowned. “I think that's literally the first smart thing I ever heard you say.”

He hadn't even meant to be a jerk, but Johnny laughed then, a bright and rare sound, and he reached out to shove Daniel's shoulder. 

*

One afternoon, Daniel strapped on a backpack. “I'm taking the bike out. Might go buy some food. You want anything?”

“When will you be back?”

Daniel shrugged. “Dunno.”

“I think we're out of milk.”

“Okay. See you later.”

It was nice, riding, his walkman blasting music in his ears, like he was the star of a music video. He managed to get to the library before they closed, made sure to tell the librarian how much he liked that Shibumi book, and then went looking for something else to read. He decided to try a James Bond. They looked kinda hokey and olf-fashioned, but maybe it would be fun to try a different kind of thriller. Then he wondered if Johnny wanted anything. He should have asked. He didn't seem like a really good reader, though he appreciated borrowing Daniel's magazines and comics. He got a couple of his favorite karate books off the shelf, and a Savage Sword of Conan comic book omnibus. At least there were pictures, and if Johnny didn't want them, he could just return them. 

It was getting kinda late when he remembered he'd promised to get some food too. He found a little convenience store, counted out his cash. He got two cartons of milk, and then he decided to get eggs and bacon as well. How hard could that be to fuck up. Then he grabbed a few Hostess Cupcakes, Johnny loved those, he'd noticed, could barely get them in the house before they were gone, Daniel would have to eat one on the way back so he could get one as well, but the rest would be for Johnny. 

“Daniel, hi!”

Daniel's head turned to the sound of the voice and there was Ali. She looked pretty and smiley, wore a thin white cardigan over a flowery dress and held a Dr Pepper. She was probably going off somewhere nice. Probably off to meet Stuart. 

“Oh, hey,” he said, plastered on a smile.

“Long time no see! So, how's your summer?”

“Ah, yeah, it's pretty good, pretty nice.”

“You got a job or?”

“Kinda, kinda.”

“Kinda?”

“Um, I'm house-sitting. For Mr Miyagi. He's in Japan. Taking care of the place, his garden and stuff.”

“Oh, oh that's real nice of you.”

“Yeah, it's no problem, no problem at all. I'm enjoying it. You?”

“I'm actually going to spend the next two weeks with Stuart's family, they own a winery up in Napa? They got all sorts of activities planned. Oh, I got into pre-med! So I'm taking a lot of books, too.”

A winery up in Napa. How peachy. She said she never minded that all Daniel and his mom had was a small place they rented in Reseda. Daniel wondered if she'd believed it herself. “Oh yeah? Congratulations!”

“Thank you! What about you, you settle on a major yet?”

“Not yet, not yet. Uh. Thinking maybe, business, accounting, something.”

“That sounds smart.”

“Yeah, yeah. Gotta get a job too, huh.”

“Yeah, that's important!” She smiled again, a sweet smile. Not the kind of smile she used to give Daniel, all bright and warm and un-selfconscious. This was more her smile for retail workers. “Well, it was real nice seeing you, Daniel. Have a great summer.”

“Uh, Ali, wait up, can I ask you something?”

“Yeah?”

“You know Johnny Lawrence?”

Her nice, polite smile faded and she tilted her head quizzically. “Yeah?”

“You know what happened to him?”

She shook her head. “No. He was just gone one day. His mom was real upset about it. She called the police but since he's over eighteen they didn't go looking for him.”

“Huh. You never told me why you guys broke up in the first place.”

She shrugged. “Um. You know, Johnny's kind of- kind of a troubled guy?”

“Yeah, huh.”

“Like, his life looked all perfect, but it really wasn't.”

“No kidding.”

“But he's not a bad guy, deep down.” She sighed. “I hope wherever he is, he's found whatever it was he was looking for.”

“Yeah, that doesn't really answer why you broke up.”

She smiled again, but it was warmer this time. “That's all I have to say, Daniel. Take care.” She turned on her heel, went off to pay for her soda.

“Hey, you too!”

When Daniel finally got back to the house it was dark out, and he walked over to the guest house, knocked, opened the door. It was empty. He sighed. He was probably making himself comfortable in front of the TV again, like he owned the place. He looked over at the main house, and the door was open. Well, Daniel congratulated himself, looked like he'd solved another mystery- wait.

Something was wrong.

It was all dark. Why wouldn't Johnny have any lights on. 

Why would the door be open and the lights be off. 

Daniel swallowed. Gently, he took his heavy backpack off, put it silently on the ground. He walked inside the house, and he did so quietly, his instincts telling him something was wrong and better not to announce his presence. Then he froze.

Johnny Lawrence was lying on the floor of the living room, his arm out at a weird angle.


	6. Chapter 6

“Oh my god, oh my god Johnny?” 

Daniel ran over, heart thundering in his chest, he kneeled next to Johnny's prone form, touched his shoulder. What on earth had happened? His blood ran cold when he remembered Johnny had been afraid. He'd said there had been people, people who had been looking for him. Honestly Daniel figured he'd just messed with someone's girl or called the wrong guy an asshole, he figured the worst he'd get was a black eye, hadn't taken it real serious, Johnny could be so dramatic, but this was real, this was bad, this was- Johnny sighed, a loud, tired exhale. Like a dog. Wait a minute. Wait. A. Minute.

With considerable effort, Daniel pushed him from his stomach to his back. Johnny stank, and Daniel recognized the smell, and his eyes strained to see the empty sake bottle in the dark a couple of feet away. He flushed with anger.

“God damn it Johnny!!”

“Uh? Huh?” His eyes opened blearily. “LaRussooo.”

“What did I tell you, huh? What did I tell you, about touching Mr Miyagi's stuff! You _bastard_!”

“Just uh. A drink.”

“It wasn't yours!”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“Okay, idiot, get up, you're going to bed, and tomorrow, you're outta here.” Daniel insinuated his hands under Johnny's back, tried pulling him up. “Can you cooperate?!”

Johnny flailed his arms out, crossed them over Daniel's back, and then instead of pushing up pulled Daniel down for a crushing hug against his broad chest. “You're so tiny.” Johnny's nose was in Daniel's hair and then he breathed in, deep and deliberate. “Like. Yeah.”

“Tiny? I'll still kick your ass. Let go of me, you stupid lunk.”

“Don't make me leave,” Johnny mumbled into Daniel's hair.

“You broke the deal, Johnny. We had a deal!”

“You're all I got.”

“That's not true,” Daniel said, trying to wriggle out of Johnny's grip, but it was too tight. 

“Is,” Johnny said sullenly, sounding very weary even as he must have been straining to keep Daniel in place against him.

“Can you let me go? Come on, let's get you to bed, we can talk in the morning.”

With another deep sigh, almost regretful, Johnny loosened his grip and Daniel pulled away. He huffed, decided to try a different tack, took both of Johnny's hands in his and pulled him up. He winced with effort, sitting up, then rising to his full height, then staggered over Daniel, he was so heavy he almost toppled them both to the ground but Daniel's legs braced underneath, held them up while his long arms tried to get a hold of the big idiot. In what was the longest seven minutes of Daniel's life he managed to drag/support Johnny into the guesthouse bed, he fell down on it like a ton of bricks and groaned. Daniel chewed his lip. What were you supposed to do with drunk people? He hadn't been around them much. Maybe Johnny was going to throw up? He went back inside, got a plastic bucket from Mr Miyagi's cleaning supplies, placed it next to the bed.

“If you need to hurl you can do it in that.”

“Mrghhh”

“Uh. Are you gonna be alright, Johnny?”

Johnny laughed then, tiredly. “Ah, probably not.”

“Is there anything I can do?”

“Probably not.”

“You ever gonna tell me what happened, Johnny?” He didn't feel like elaborating. He figured Johnny would get it.

“Probably not.”

Daniel knew he should just be annoyed at his broken Magic 8-ball replies, but his heart ached a little. He reached a hand out, stroked Johnny's back. Then he did it again. He could almost feel Johnny relax as he was doing it. Like Daniel could draw away the tension with his fingers. He sighed. “Good night, Johnny.”

“Night Daniel.”

*

Johnny lay there for a long time before he fell asleep, drunk and nauseous and endlessly sad (he hadn't realized how good a distraction the little twerp had turned out to be and being alone with his thoughts had turned out to be a very dangerous thing). He couldn't stop thinking about the moment where his whole life had gone to hell. Which was not, funnily enough, the tournament. It was a couple of weeks after that. But the thread that led to that moment had started unspooling years and years earlier. About six years earlier, to be precise. When Johnny had been 12 years old, first entered the Cobra Kai dojo, and a bright-eyed boy with a wide, toothy grin had told him, “Hey, I'm Bobby, what's your name?”

Weird as it might have seemed at his high school peak, there had been a time when Johnny Lawrence, the greatest athlete in school, with his crew, his beautiful girlfriend, his sweet car and his bike, had been kind of a friendless loser. Karate had changed that, but Bobby Brown had changed that, too. 

One day, he didn't have a friend to his name. The next, he had a best friend. 

They'd entered into the friendship with the generous recklessness of childhood, no coyness, no embarrassment, no denial over the fact they just really fucking liked hanging out together and were going to make that the main priority going forward. Some times Johnny wondered if Bobby was as happy to have found him as he was to have found Bobby, and he figured maybe not. Because Bobby had other friends, he had a mom and dad that were really nice and didn't fight in front of him or call him names. But it didn't matter if he liked Bobby a little more than Bobby liked him. Because he was still Bobby Brown's best friend. 

When they were fifteen they got drunk together for the first time (Johnny had lifted a bottle out of Sid's liqor cabinet) and it turned out Bobby was an affectionate drunk. He'd draped his arm around Johnny's shoulders and Johnny's body had commanded him to sink down into the embrace, tilt his head to Bobby like a flower to the sun, and even in his drunken state he'd realized a very scary thing.

Maybe he didn't like Bobby more than Bobby liked him.

Maybe he just liked Bobby differently than Bobby liked him.

In the morning, hung over and miserable, he'd tried to write off the realization as a drunken moment of pure insanity, but it just didn't work. It was like a light switch had been flicked, and the whole hue of the world had changed, and he could see everything clearer. The strong, lean shape of Bobby Brown. The curves of that beautiful mouth. The warmth of his eyes. He got his hands on a magazine, and in the magazine was a young guy with hair like Bobby's, and his dick was hard and proud in front of him, he kept the magazine under his mattress and that picture was the cause of countless orgasms that year, Bobby's face replacing the model's in Johnny's memory. He looked at the dick, imagined the weight of it in his hand, the taste of it in his mouth. Imagined all the ways he could make Bobby feel good. That they could make each other feel good.

Of course, he was never gonna do anything about it. 

In fact, he got a girlfriend. Ali Mills. Cute, blonde, and real clever. Lasted nearly two years. Until one mortifying day and a mortifying question. _Do you even like girls, Johnny?_

He still wasn't sure she'd meant it like _that_ , but that fight had been one for the ages. If a guy had dared say that to him he would have beaten him half to death. He didn't touch her, but he did intimidate her, used his size and the volume of his voice and every condescending phrase in his vocabulary. Afterwards, he'd tried talking to her, get her back, just to prove that she'd been wrong, if that's what she thought about him. She told him to take a hike. And then LaRusso turned up, and he turned out to be a pretty good conduit for Johnny's rage. 

Until Daniel kicked his ass in the fucking tournament.

That tournament. Cobra Kai Never Dies, or at least not unless some 98 pound squirt with a big mouth and Bambi eyes comes along and drives everyone insane. He'd obliterated Kreese's dojo overnight solely by the power of being _really fucking annoying._ The Cobra Kai gang splintered. Except him and Bobby, they were still one shard, close as they'd ever been. Dutch had been all crazy, talked about bloody revenge, but neither Johnny nor Bobby were interested. They had long conversations unravelling the years in the dojo, how maybe they'd been taught wrong all along, and just what the hell they were supposed to do with that. And then one night they made the mistake of getting really high together in Johnny's room. Bobby always got real touchy and close when he was drunk or high, and he was sitting flush to Johnny on the three-seater in his room, his body all warm against his side, his head flopping over on Johnny's shoulder so he could feel his brown hair, his Bobby Brown hair, brush his cheek. And he loved that about Bobby, how easy it was for him to be close, he loved it, he loved it, he loved it, he glowed with it, and before he almost knew what was happening his hand was on Bobby's face and he kissed him.

_And Bobby kissed back._

With full, soft lips, dragging over Johnny's, again and again, the wet sounds they made together was enough to get Johnny hard, and then he flicked the tip of his tongue out to taste him, ran it along the seam of his lips, silently begging Bobby to let him in. Then, Bobby pulled away and laughed.

“Oh, man, what are we doing.”

“It's okay,” Johnny breathed.

“Nah, come on, man.”

Almost in desperation, Johnny's hand reached down between Bobby's thighs, for his dick, which was soft. 

“Johnny-”

“Come on, just close your eyes. It'll feel good.”

Bobby breathed in sharply through his nose, and then his eyes closed. He always did what Johnny said, really. To Johnny's relief Bobby's dick was hardening under his hand. Johnny allowed himself a moment to admire the thick, dark arcs Bobby's eyelashes formed against the tops of his cheeks, then he smoothly, at least it felt smooth, got down on the floor, on his knees, and Bobby spread his legs to make room for him. 

“Oh, _fuck_ ,” he said weakly when Johnny put the head of his dick in his mouth and just, the thrill of that alone, Johnny didn't exactly know what he was doing but inbetween the noises Bobby was making and the mellow of the weed he didn't even feel unsure about it, just built a rhythm, took more and more length, and Bobby was moaning over him and whatever he had to do to keep him moaning like that he would. He pulled off to breathe, and Bobby's eyes were still clamped shut, and when he sank back down he looked up, willed Bobby to look back, to look at him, even though he'd told him he didn't have to, to be cool with the fact this was Johnny, this was _them_ , together. Look at me look at me look at me. And then, Bobby raised his hand, and then it was gentle in Johnny's hair, and Johnny's heart felt so fucking full-

“What in the hell is going on in here- oh _jesus christ_ ”

Johnny turned back to see his stepdad in the door, Bobby zipped up and grabbed his jacket and ran out in a roadrunner blur of legs and arms, and Sid yelled at him and called him every name Johnny had ever been terrified of being called and it was really only out of a baseline concern for his mom he didn't beat the guy into a pulp. He'd grabbed his jacket and his helmet and taken the bike and driven off into the night. 

And that was the last time Johnny had been home.

He'd slept on the beach, that first night, and the second day he'd found a payphone, called Bobby's house.

“Uh, hi, Mrs Brown? It's Johnny, can Bobby come to the phone?”

_”Just a minute, Johnny.”_

He'd waited for what seemed hours, hugging himself with an arm inside the phone booth, when someone finally picked up. “Bobby-”

_”I'm sorry, Johnny. He's not feeling very well, he can't talk right now,”_ Bobby's mom said.

“Oh.” Johnny swallowed. “Okay. Will you just tell him. That I'm real sorry.”

_”Of course, Johnny.”_ She sighed, and when she spoke again, he thought he could hear a smile in her voice. _”And whatever happened I'm sure the two of you will make it up again in no time.”_

When he exited the phone booth his hands were shaking, he had nowhere to go, no-one to talk to, about twenty dollars to his name, and the only thing he was sure of, was that Bobby's mom was wrong.

*

When Johnny woke up in Mr Miyagi's guest house, hung over and miserable, he sighed and turned and winced and blinked and noticed some stuff on the side table. With considerable effort, he raised his head to see. It was a bottle of Aspirin, a waterbottle, and a little tower of three Hostess Cupcakes. It was the closest to crying Johnny had come in the last six months, and that was fucking saying something.


	7. Chapter 7

Johnny didn’t have a TV growing up. So his mom would tell stories. She liked fairy tales, princess stories. When Johnny got old enough he’d request other kinds of stories. About wars. Ninjas. Dinosaurs. Soldiers. Aliens. Alien dinosaur soldiers who were at war with ninjas. She did her best to accommodate, but she couldn’t quite keep away from her princess stories, and now he was almost a grown up himself Johnny was beginning to realize they were as much for herself as for him. She especially loved the story of Beauty and the Beast, which, honestly, Johnny never really got. First of all, you could get roses at the KwikMart, you really didn’t have to go mess inside an enchanted castle just to pick up a damn flower. And sure, the Beast kind of overreacted to the flower theft, but several states have Stand Your Ground laws. Maybe the story happened in Texas. But things really worked out kinda good for Beauty? She had a whole damn castle at her disposal, all she had to do was hang out and live the good life as long as she could stay away from one damn room. Johnny was pretty sure he could stay away from one damn room if it meant he could live in his own castle.

The theory was put to the test when Daniel got real tetchy about the bonsai (not banzai, as he’d been corrected with rolling brown eyes) room, and told Johnny to stay out if he so far as yawned in the general direction of the door. And Johnny truly didn’t give a shit. He had no use for crippled little Japanese trees. 

However, at the moment, he had use for LaRusso.

He’d downed three aspirins and taken another nap and he felt like something approaching human when he woke back up. Even felt good enough to eat a cupcake (god, they must put crack in those things). He went out in the garden, couldn’t see Daniel, but looking out the gate both his bike and car were there. He went inside the main house, still couldn’t see him, tried the bathroom door, it was open, so he had a long rejuvenating shower, scrubbing his face with a rough cloth to wake himself up properly. He’d make amends. They could drive downtown, go to Little Tokyo, when it got late enough. Johnny had a fake ID and could get more damn sake. (He’d give Daniel the money to get it himself, but not even a blind and deaf person would take Daniel for over 21.) He dried off with a towel, brushed his teeth, pulled his T-shirt and shorts back on, walked back into the house and looked around. Where the hell could he be sulking? Then he hear Daniel’s voice. He was talking to someone. He walked quietly towards the voice, until he was in front of the bonsai room door.

“Yeah I thought I might kick him out, because I was so mad, but I figure the guy deserves a second chance. I mean, you take in a stray, you can’t put it back in the street the first time it shits on the carpet.”

Johnny flushed. He probably deserved that, but he didn’t like it. He opened the door very quietly, wanted to see who the hell Daniel was talking to. Then, he stared.

The room was beautiful. Dozens of twisting, graceful little trees were lined on sturdy, dark wooden shelves and tables. The room had large windows covering one wall, almost like a greenhouse, he hadn’t been on that side of the house before, he hadn’t realized. The sunlight filtered through and haloed the shape of Daniel, sitting perched on a stool and snipping at one of the trees with a pair of clippers, his other hand gently supporting the branches. His lashes were long and dark on half-hooded eyes, his mouth curled up into a small smile while he talked softly to himself, or the trees or whatever, his profile was elegant and sharp. He was wearing one of his sleeveless tops and his skin looked just about golden in the sun. He looked- he looked so beautiful. Johnny blinked. What the fuck.

“And I guess I’m getting used to having him around. Nah, you can’t meet him. He’s too-” Daniel’s head snapped to the side, his mouth fell open. “I told you you're not allowed in here!”

“I wanted to say I'm sorry,” Johnny said. “I'm not gonna touch anything.”

“I’m almost done, go away, go away.” He literally waved his hand, shooing him off. Johnny retreated, closed the door after himself.

*

Daniel finished up, took a deep breath, walked out and found Johnny stirring a pot of mac and cheese in the kitchen. Johnny looked at him over his shoulder. “You hungry?”

“Yeah, I could eat.”

Daniel wondered where that apology Johnny had been talking about was, but then he ladled mac and cheese into a bowl and put it in front of Daniel, instead of just dumping the pot on the cork trivet, and figured maybe that was it. 

“I’ll get another bottle of sake. Not gonna happen again.”

“Yeah, better not,” Daniel said, and that was the end of that.

*

“What do you say, wanna hit up Little Tokyo?” 

Daniel looked up from his James Bond book, You Only Live Twice, which he’d mainly picked up because the story was set in Japan. He liked it, but he figured he needed to go back and start with the first one because there were a lot of people and organizations it felt like he was supposed to know what were all about. Not like it was that hard to follow, but still. James Bond – as far as Daniel could tell a big burly English guy with weird taste in food which was probably supposed to come off super sophisticated – was posing as a Japanese fisherman. It was real stupid, but it was entertaining too. He would have to tell Mr Miyagi about it. 

Johnny had been real grateful when Daniel showed him the books he’d got him, too, and he’d been buried in the one about karate philosophy all day. Daniel had liked that one, too. Johnny hadn’t really looked up for any sparring or even kata so they’d just had a real lazy day, lying on blankets in the garden, Mr Miyagi’s crackly radio playing, cans of soda just in reach, reading in the sun. But it was getting late, and it was getting colder.

Daniel tilted his sunglasses up on his forehead. Didn’t really need them anymore.

“Little Tokyo?”

“Yeah, for the sake.”

“Uh… okay,” Daniel said. Well, had to hand that to Johnny, he didn’t mess around when he’d put his mind to something. “I could do with a drive.”

“Me too,” Johnny said. “this is nice and all but I’m getting a little cabin fever.”

Daniel wanted to remind him nobody was holding him there against his will, but he didn’t want to disturb the easy truce, so when Johnny extended a hand he just grabbed it, let him pull him to his feet.


	8. Chapter 8

“Wanna come inside?” Daniel asked, taking the keys out of the ignition.

“No.”

“Geeze, come on. I’ll protect you from the posse, Clyde.”

“You couldn’t protect me from a slingshot, Bonnie.”

But Johnny did exit the car, looked around warily, and followed Daniel up into the apartments in the Reseda building. Daniel got the mail out, it was almost overflowing, he shoved it at Johnny and he used both arms to clutch the pile to him while Daniel got out the rest.

“Should be a law against all this advertising,” Daniel grumbled, then led the way up into the apartment, unlocking the door. 

“This where you and your mom live?” Johnny asked, stating the obvious.

“Yeah. It’s actually bigger than our place in Parsippany, if you can believe it.” Daniel dumped his pile of mail on a table and Johnny followed suit. “I’m pretty sure my mom told our neighbor to take the mail in, but she’s kinda...” Daniel made circles with a finger next to his ear.

Johnny sat down at the kitchen table and so did Daniel, sorting through the mail. “Garbage. Garbage. Garbage. Garba- oh, no way! No way!”

Daniel smiled so hard his face hurt, looking at the postcard with the picture from Okinawa.

“From Mr Myiagi?”

“Yeah! Yeah! Oh my god!”

“Come on, let’s hear it.”

Daniel cleared his throat theatrically. _“Dear Daniel-san. How are you? Often thoughts turn to my young friend across the sea. I hope you are having a great time in Fresno.”_

“Fresno?” Johnny asked, interested.

“Uuh,” Daniel said, evasively. “that’s just… an in-joke. We call the house Fresno.”

“Okay,” Johnny said a little dubiously.

_“In my village everything and nothing has changed. The quiet and the ways of the past have shattered. The young people I knew have grown old. My father is dead. But the wind still glides sweetly across the water. Sato still burns with hatred. And Yukie is still lovelier than spring after a hard winter.”_

“That his girlfriend?”

“Yeah, like his high school sweetheart.”

“Okay.”

_“She has a sweet young niece called Kumiko, who loves to hear of Daniel-san and says to say hello and that you are always welcome in Tomi village.”_ Daniel grinned. “Kumiko!” He looked up from the card. “She sounds cute.”

“How can you possibly tell?”

“I just know it. Kumiko. She sounds cuter than a button.”

Johnny rolled his eyes.

_“Some times Miyagi feels very selfish and wishes his young friend Daniel-san was by his side in this heavy walk through the past. So I ask that you write me. Tell me of your summer, your sweethearts, and your practice. If you do, Miyagi’s heart will feel lighter than a grain of rice. Your friend, Nariyoshi Miyagi.”_ Daniel looked up. “PS Thanks for taking care of the house.” He swallowed. “Man, I gotta write a card.”

“He might be back before it arrives in Japan, though.”

“I’ll send it express, or something.” Daniel chewed his bottom lip. 

“Okay, okay. Let’s go, before all the shops close.”

Daniel got an empty plastic bag and discarded all the ads in that, leaving aside the letters for his mom and newsletters and arranging them in a neat pile on the kitchen table, put his own mail and the postcard in his backpack, and nodded. “Let’s go.”

The drive downtown was nice. It was a balmy night, sun setting, and Daniel, feeling generous and happy after receiving the postcard, even let Johnny fiddle with the radio. _...standing strong forever, nothing’s gonna stop us now… guilty feet have got no rhythm… cause tonight, is the night, for feeling alright..._

“They should play more metal,” Johnny said, dialing through static with a frustrated frown. “too much pop shit.”

“Oh hey, wait, stop, this channel is actually really fun,” Daniel said. 

“Mexican shit?”

“Give it a chance. Uno! Dos! Ultraviolento!”

Daniel hadn’t spent that much time downtown, and he hadn’t even been to Little Tokyo. Honestly he didn't even know it existed until Johnny told him. So he was kinda excited. And it was cool driving through Los Angeles too. Johnny didn’t even turn his head to look at the Hollywood sign, probably too used to it, but Daniel thought it was pretty neat. Eventually they were in Little Tokyo, and Daniel slowed down past one large, low, gorgeous structure.

“No way!”

“What kind of place is that?”

“Buddhist temple, I guess. Are those cherry trees? Wow!”

“You’re sure into all that Japan stuff, huh.”

“I just find it interesting,” Daniel said. “anyway, where are the shops? California is just road, road, road, I swear.”

“That place looks promising,” Johnny said, pointing. Daniel pulled over, and they walked out the car, Johnny doing his looking-around routine for bounty hunters or whatever. Daniel rolled his eyes. Johnny stopped in front of the door. “Maybe stay away from me,” he said. “the fake ID usually works but you look about twelve, and I’m not sure I’ll be able to pass you off as my kid.”

“Twelve, buzz off. We can’t all be built like livestock.”

But he hung back, waited until Johnny had walked inside and up to the old Japanese guy manning the till before he entered himself, and his eyes went saucer wide. It was a lot bigger and brighter than it looked from the outside. Music was playing, Japanese language music, a female singer over a smooth beat. In a daze, he started walking through the shelves. They were lined with comic books, magazines. He grabbed one at random. It looked _cool as hell._ “Akira,” he read out loud softly. He put it back, swallowing. There were _Japanese karate magazines_. God, he wished he could read them, but the pictures alone were _awesome_. He walked further in. All kinds of Japanese candies and drinks and foods. Chopsticks and bowls in pretty patterns and designs. Big stuffed weird toys. CDs. VHS tapes of movies that all _looked amazing_. He was staring at one called Karate Cop when Johnny came over. 

“There you are.” He raised a bag. “Mission accomplished, let’s get the hell out of here.”

Daniel looked up, stars in his eyes.

He could have stayed until closing but Johnny was getting edgy. Daniel bought a Little Tokyo postcard, and then they found a noodle place. Daniel wanted to go sit inside but Johnny had clearly had his fill of other people for the day, so they got takeaway, and they sat in the car, eating out of plastic bowls. They both had the day's special because it was the cheapest, it was noodles in a broth soup with pork, boiled egg, vegetables.

“What the hell is this,” Johnny said, forking a white chunk.

“Uh… I think that’s tofu.”

“What the hell is a toe foo?”

“Just try it.”

“Aaargh,” Johnny said, sticking his tongue out with his mouth open, then he bucketed down Coke.

“Johnny?”

“Uh?”

“Tonight was so awesome.”

“Shut up,” Johnny said, but it sounded kinda fond.

Later that night, Johnny asleep in the guest house, sake bottle replaced in Mr Miyagi’s cupboard, Daniel sat up in bed, too many impressions and images in his head to sleep, and he wrote on the postcard, using a book against his knees as a writing desk. 

_Dear Mr Miyagi. Thank you for your postcard. Tell Kumiko hello from California, and that I would love to come visit her one day. I am really sorry to hear about your dad, and I wish I was there with you right now. I think about you a lot. But I am having a really nice summer. I’m practicing karate almost every day, I think you’ll be pretty impressed when you come back! And I made a real good friend. Some times life can really take you by surprise._

Daniel smiled, tapping the biro against his mouth.

_I’m really happy._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like I promise there is a plot in the wings but I'm enjoying meandering through 80s LA too much to hit the beats? Lol maybe next chapter.  
> The song they listen to in the car is ["1,2, Ultraviolento" by Los Violadores](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIw04_pZ-C8&ab_channel=Karlo), a 1985 song by the Argentinian punk band.  
> Chapter is dedicated to my fav Japanese nerd store, thank god for facemasks so I can walk with the weebs without loss of face.


	9. Chapter 9

In the guest house, Johnny wasn’t actually sleeping. He was pacing. It really was unbelievable. The Dutch situation (and the… homeless situation) was really more than enough to be dealing with, if he wasn’t going to go ahead and develop a full blown crush on Daniel LaRusso out of all damn people too. What was his damage? Was this what his life was going to be? Was he just going to be a goner every time he met a boy with a cute smile who showed him some kindness? Well, he told himself, this time, you’re keeping it to yourself. He was going to keep his head clear, not fuck up, and not freak Daniel out with his stupid feelings. Kid was so corny and clueless anyway, he’d probably have to draw him some kind of picture for him to get it. And Johnny failed art class. (How can you fail a class in third grade. Shouldn’t be possible.)

He threw himself down on the bed, groaned.

*

The next morning he woke up full of resolve, and decided on having a real nice day. He was going to read some more in that book Daniel had got him, it had a ton of clever stuff in it, and they were going to practice, and they’d watch some music videos, and it was just gonna be nice. Maybe they could hit the strip mall again, Daniel had liked that. And he was not going to think about the shape of Daniel’s mouth or the way the sun hit his skin and he was not going to call him Bonnie. It was just gonna be... normal. 

“Morning,” he said, walking into the main house and looking around. 

And right away, he knew it wasn’t going to be a normal day at all.

The door to the bonsai room was wide open. And Johnny could finally figure Beauty’s whole problem, with the whole forbidden room deal, because his feet moved in its direction like on their own accord. Inside, Daniel was spritzing water from a bottle over the bonsai trees, illuminated by those big windows again and looking like a god damn angel. Fuck. Fuck. Fuck.

Daniel turned his face to look at Johnny, and smiled. "Hey."

“Uh, morning. Don’t worry, not coming in.”

“No, it’s okay – wanna help?”

“Probably shouldn’t, huh.”

Daniel put the bottle down, walked over, and grabbed Johnny’s wrist, his fingers forming a tight circle around it, and he pulled him into the room, over to a stool. “Here, sit there.”

Johnny did.

Daniel picked up a kind of raggedy looking bonsai tree, plunked it in front of him. “This is a really young one. Me and Mr Miyagi picked it out in the forest a couple months back.”

“I thought bonsai trees came from Japan?”

“Just the technique. You can bonsai any tree. This one’s American as apple pie.”

“Huh.”

Daniel gave him a pair of bronze clippers.

Johnny smiled, shook his head. “Yeah, I don’t think so. I’ll just ruin it.”

“Come on. It’s okay.”

Johnny’s mouth felt dry when he took the clippers. “How do I know which bit to cut?”

“Close your eyes.”

Johnny did, hoped Daniel didn’t notice his hand tremble a little around the clippers.

Daniel's voice went very soft. “Okay, imagine like, the prettiest little bonsai tree you ever saw.”

“Um.”

“Can you see it?”

“Uhh… yeah.”

“Now open your eyes,” Daniel said, and Johnny did, looked right at him, eyes wide. “there, now cut it into that shape.”

“But how?”

Daniel huffed. “Geeze, just start somewhere. Anywhere. Not there!” Daniel grabbed his hand again, led it from about the middle of the little branch to the edge. “Farther out. And here, support it with your other hand, like this-”

Johnny held his breath as he clipped a little bit of a branch, Daniel's warm fingers nudging his hand. Daniel smiled at him, nodded. 

“You can talk to them, too. They like it.”

“What do you say to a tree?”

“Anything. They’re real good at keeping secrets. So if you wanna tell them why you’re so jumpy all the time you can.”

Man, the little trees would probably wither and die if they had to listen to Johnny’s secrets. This felt dangerous. Better go on the offense. “You tell them why Mr Miyagi would send you a postcard at your place and not his with you housesitting here? Or why your mom would ask a neighbor to get the mail and not you?”

Daniel’s mouth fell open and he reddened a little.

“I don’t care what your deal is,” Johnny assured. “I’m just not a total dumbass. Just so you know.” 

“I know,” Daniel mumbled.

It was actually nice, cutting the bonsai. When he’d got it into a shape he liked Daniel helped him put little wires on it and then it looked even more like the bonsai he’d imagined. It felt like magic, and Johnny thought about enchanted castles again.

More than an hour must have passed by the time they were done with it and Johnny realized he was starving.

“I need some breakfast,” he announced, getting up.

“Dude, let’s go to McDonalds.”

“Um, no, you go if you want.”

“No come on man, come with. I need to post my postcard too.” Daniel looked up at him with big warm brown eyes. “I’ll let you driiive.”

Johnny swallowed. He probably was being paranoid. What could one little morning (or well, noon) outing hurt?

And it was real nice, sitting down in the McDonalds. Change of scenery. They had Egg McMuffins and fries and milkshakes. Breakfast of champions. 

“That um. Book you gave me,” Johnny said.

“Yeah?”

“It’s real interesting. Thank you.”

Daniel smiled. “You’re welcome. What do you like best about it?”

“Uhh- all of it? I guess? It’s a whole new way of looking at karate. For me, anyway. Kreese wasn’t one for the philosophical stuff. At all.”

“Huh, figures.”

"And I think it's really cool how it's kinda... uhh..." Johnny strained for a word. "fluid? Like uh. Not set in stone? Like you have the basics but then all these different guys have made their own thing out of that. I think that's super, super cool."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah, like with Mr Miyagi, he knows like, I think everything there is to know about karate, and I think that's why he's not afraid to come up with stuff that's all his own. He knows what works or not, to like, get to where he wants to go. That's what makes him such an awesome teacher."

"Yeah. Like, there's this one guy, they talked about him in the book, he came up with uh a style of karate called Isshin-Ryu. Um, The One Heart Way."

"I don't remember that one."

"Something something about everything springing from one thing, but also you have to put your whole heart into something, like it's kinda hard to grasp but I like it. So the main thing are all these kata-"

"When you do kata you also have to be like one being," Daniel interrupted, excited. "you can't go off and do your own thing. You're part of a whole."

Johnny nodded enthusiastically, started gesticulating. He'd probably been around the little goombah too long. "Yeah exactly! One mind, one body, one heart, like, in a way that's what karate is all about. Hey, you and me get good enough, we could come up with our own way of karate, wouldn't that be something?"

Daniel smiled at him then in the sweetest way. Johnny swallowed. He was a _goner_ , man.

A little later Daniel was in the post office, posting his postcard, probably trying to haggle the cost of express delivery to Japan with how long he was taking, and Johnny was sitting on the sidewalk outside, downing a soda. 

"Lawrence!!"

Johnny jumped up to his feet. Oh. Shit.

"I have been looking for you all over," Dutch said. His eyes were all wide and round. Johnny looked around. Four other guys were rolling up, kind of strolling, but shoulders forward, tense and ready. Then he looked inside the post office. Daniel was at the till, talking.

"Where's my money, Lawrence?"

Johnny's instinct was to throw a punch. He could take these tweakers. But that would draw a crowd, and Daniel would get involved. So he made a decision. 

He ran.


	10. Chapter 10

"Eleven dollars and seventy-five cents," Daniel announced. "that's what it costs to send a damn postcard a fly could carry to Japan on the expre- Johnny?"

He looked around. He walked over to the car, he wasn't there either. "Johnny?"

He sat down inside, still grumbling. Man, he shouldn't have had that McDonalds, spending like a big man. Cereal and spaghetti from here on out. Highway goddamn robbery. A mail guy could put that card in his shoe, it was so little. He sighed. Worth it though. He imagined Mr Miyagi's face when he got it in a couple days. Imagined him reading it out to Kumiko and Yukie, translating his words into Japanese. Man, he couldn't wait until Mr Miyagi was back. He and Johnny were practicing almost every day and he was getting real good. Johnny was showing him different stuff, different tricks, was real generous with it, and it was awesome. And Daniel was showing him the kata practice, so now he was kinda a sensei himself, how about that! Hey, he was even a bonsai sensei.

He sighed, looked around. Where could the big lunk had gone off to?

After an hour waiting, Daniel gave up. He felt a little worried, but mostly angry. Maybe Johnny had met someone he knew or something. Could've given him a little heads up. He'd probably be back that night, all contrite and uh buh I'm Johnny Lawrence I was raised in a barn never gonna happen again duh. Blowing air out his nose in a huff, he turned the ignition, drove back to the house.

No sign of Johnny. 

He grabbed one of the Hostess Cupcakes, figured if he dared touch Johnny's trove he'd burst through the wall like an indignant Kool Aid Man. Daniel ate it slowly, used his finger to scoop out the white cream inside, put it in his mouth. No sign of Johnny.

Before he went to bed he checked the guest house, just in case.

*

When he woke up, he checked the guest house, just in case.

He felt antsy the whole day. Maybe Johnny hadn't been all stupid and dramatic? Maybe there really were people after him? Looking to kick his ass? Why did he have to be so cagey? Daniel didn't have the faintest idea who it could be. Or where they might go. His stepdad? Johnny seemed to have a problem with him. Maybe he should try calling their house, talk to his mom? He found Mr Miyagi's phone book. There were about a million people in it by the name of Lawrence. He sighed. Even if he singled out the ones living in the Hills, he couldn't ask them all if they had a big annoying son. He'd call Ali and ask for the number but she was in Napa and her parents probably wouldn't even come to the phone if he told their housekeeper who was calling.

There was a thunderstorm that night. A freak thunderstorm, as if things weren't shitty enough already. The air felt electric, like one wrong move and you'd go flying. It revved up Daniel's anxiety, and that was after having spent pretty much the whole afternoon pacing, talking to himself, trying to figure out where Johnny could have gone off to and what to do about it. If he should take the car, go looking for him, something.

But the rain and the thunder, that sealed the deal. What if Johnny was out there with no shelter and nowhere to go in weather like that? Lightning always strikes the highest point, that's science. He'd get what little brains he had fried. 

There was nothing for it, Daniel was going to have to call the police.

Wait. The police! The police station! Where would a big volatile moron with a talent for annoying people end up? Like, it wasn't _the_ most unlikely scenario, certainly as good a place to start looking as any. He'd drive down, ask to see the cell for drunks and miscreants, and if he wasn't there he'd file a missing persons report, say it was a real emergency with suspicion of foul play. He jumped to his feet. He didn't have a parka or anything like that with him in the house, so he pulled on a red hoodie, put the hood up to protect him from the rain, and barged out into the garden, car keys in pocket.

He almost ran headfirst into a big tree, but it wasn't a tree.

Tall and broad and soaking wet, was Johnny Lawrence, his blond hair hanging in streaks down his forehead. 

"Good, you're home," he said, all conversational, and Daniel stared for a beat before he threw both arms around his neck, and reached up into a big, tight, hug. Kinda slowly Johnny's arms came around him too, kinda gentle, one arm circling his waist and the other resting diagonal up his back and to his shoulder, holding him all close. 

The rain was still pouring and they should probably be getting inside but the rain was good actually because it kind of covered up the fact that Daniel was crying. 

"You big idiot. Where the hell did you go huh," Daniel said in a high voice.

"I-"

"I worried," Daniel said, then hugged him tighter, then kissed Johnny's cheek, hard, one time, two times, his skin was all cold and wet, and he kissed his cheek again but slower that time, kind of held it, pressed his lips to it like he could warm him up that way. Then he did that again, but next to Johnny's mouth. And then he kissed Johnny's mouth. Johnny pulled away, stared down at him with wide blue eyes, and Daniel let go of him, wriggled out of the hug. 

"Sorry," he said, walking backwards. "sorry, sorry."

"Daniel-" He walked towards him, crowded him.

"I said sorry. Don't um, don't be, hey what are you, woah-"

Johnny grabbed him and for a moment Daniel wondered if he was going to throw him into the wall or something, but instead he lifted him off the ground, strong arms holding Daniel flush to his body so his feet was dangling mid-air, until his face was level with Johnny's, and then Johnny kissed him, and Daniel's arms came up around Johnny's neck so he could cling on and kiss back, and Johnny's grip shifted, became firmer and steadier, and they kissed and kissed in the rain, only feet away from the dry, warm house.


	11. Chapter 11

Towels and blankets and Mr Miyagi's duvet. They were cocooned in everything Daniel had been able to find, sitting together on the mattress of Mr Miyagi's bed. It were the same blankets they used when they lounged outside in the grass, and there were bits of grass and dirt in them, but that wasn’t important right now, what was important was getting all warmed up. 

It had taken a surprisingly long time for Johnny's arms to get tired but he did let Daniel down on the ground eventually, and Daniel had smiled up at him in kind of an incredulous daze, chest almost too full to breathe, and then he'd realized Johnny was looking kind of blue. Not metaphorically. Literally. Like Jack Nicholson in the maze in The Shining. 

So he'd pulled him inside and commandeered him into Mr Miyagi's bed and started throwing every bit of fabric he could find at him until he'd covered Johnny up in a big rag pile with just a pair of blue eyes peeping out of it and then he'd started up a pot of mac and cheese and when it was ready he brought it over and they sat together, Daniel stealing some of the covers because he was kinda chilly and wet too, and they ate the mac and cheese out of mugs with long spoons.

“You getting warmed up?”

“Uh huh”

“See, mac and cheese is good for everything. It can fill you up, it can warm you up. It's good for lunch and it's good for dinner and it's good for a snack. It's got your carbohydrates, it's got your protein, it's got your vitamins.”

“What are you talking about, Daniel?”

“You done with that?”

Johnny handed over his mug and Daniel put them both down on the floor. Johnny moved in a little closer, and a little closer, looked all searchingly at Daniel, and then he kissed him again, careful, cautious, light, as if he wasn't sure it was allowed. Daniel kissed back, firm, as if to say it was. Then he pulled back.

“Wait, I'm still not sure if I'm supposed to be mad at you or not.”

“What?”

“What happened yesterday?”

There was a silence. “A fight. Didn't want you involved.”

“What? In front of the post office?”

“Ran into some people there.”

“The ones you said was looking for you?”

“Yeah,” Johnny sighed. “just my luck.”

“Johnny, who are these people?”

Johnny went quiet again and Daniel made an exasperated noise. He cleared his throat. “You remember Dutch?”

“Uh... yeah. Weird blond guy you used to hang out with, right?”

“That's him. Well, I got something he wants.”

“What?”

“I’ll show you. Trust me?”

Daniel’s tongue darted out to lick his lips, which suddenly felt dry, and he nodded. Johnny grabbed a hold of Daniel's hand then, looked into his eyes, and then guided it down towards him, past towels, past blankets. Daniel gasped a little, tried pulling away, but Johnny insisted, and well, maybe Daniel didn't try _that_ hard. His hand, guided by Johnny's, was sliding up Johnny's thigh now, up and up, and Daniel was pretty sure he'd forgotten how to breathe. Then his hand hit something smooth and plasticky. _“What?”_

Johnny burst out laughing. Daniel frowned, felt Johnny's leg with his fingertips, realized something was taped to it, right at the top of his thigh. It felt like a really large band aid. “Seriously what the hell man?”

Johnny reached down in between his legs, bit his lip and pulled, and there was a sound almost like ripping and Johnny winced, and then his hand emerged from the covers with a flat plastic bag with a square of silver tape around it. 

“You- you had this taped to you??”

“Didn't want to lose it. Think I just ripped out a bunch of hair though, fuck. Gross.”

“What is it?”

“About a thousand bucks in cash. Well, a little less, now.”

Daniel gaped. “You had a thousand bucks and you'd only pay me thirty five in rent??”

“Hey, I'm supposed to start a new life with this money!”

“Where did you get this?”

“Sold my bike,” Johnny said. 

“You sold your _bike_? I thought you were like married to that thing.”

“Needed to eat.”

“Oh- oh Johnny.” He reached out a hand, stroked his face. 

“Sold it to Dutch.” Johnny cleared his throat. “For five hundred. Which I thought was a far too low price but I was getting desperate. And well, Dutch uh, he has kind of a setup and there was more money lying around, so when his back was turned I helped myself to a little more to make the price a little more fair. This was right before I met you at the beach, by the way.”

“You stole the money?!”

“Hey! A brand new Honda for five hundred? That's stealing!”

“Jesus, Johnny.”

“He probably stole the money himself anyway. Fuck that guy.” Johnny put the money on the side table. “He's got a real chip on his shoulder though. And apparently he's like a damn kingpin now so he's got all his little zombies and tweakers looking for me. I got hassled everywhere I went so since you said Mr Miyagi was away anyway, I figured I could hide here for a while.” 

“You could just give the money back?”

“Please. He'd just hold it over me. You think I’m working for him? He'll get bored eventually. I'm just going to lay low for a while, and then I'll go somewhere else.”

“Where?”

Johnny smiled at him. “Let's not worry about all that now, okay?”

“Okay, Johnny.”

“Can I kiss you again?”

Daniel nodded, and they shifted and slid to lie next to each other, Johnny kissed him, caught his bottom lip, and Daniel kissed back, threaded his fingers through blond hair, and parted his lips for him. Who knew huh? Who knew kissing Johnny Lawrence could feel like this. 

Then Johnny started pulling at one of the towels between them, from under Daniel, tossed it down to the foot of the bed. Then he pulled at a blanket, another towel, up and away, and with every one of them he inched a little closer, a little closer. Daniel reached out a hand, he'd stripped away enough layers for Daniel to put a hand on his naked chest, he was all broad and all firm.

Johnny insinuated an arm around Daniel's neck, put his other hand at the small of his back, pulled him even closer, rolled over on his back taking Daniel with him, Daniel braced himself with a flat palm on the mattress, and then, not even thinking about it, he rolled his hips, and Johnny gasped. Then Johnny's arm was large and firm on his back, pushing him down against his chest, his other hand sliding up and then _down_ his spine, even through the blanket Daniel was wrapped in it felt all strong, all warm, and then, also through the blanket, he put his hand on Daniel's ass, squeezed, and Daniel moved again, with the blankets and the friction and everything it was getting real warm, yeah that was what this was about, just warming Johnny up, saving a life honestly, but he didn't even need a thank you, he was just good with this, with Johnny kissing him all deep and breathless, his body rocking and moving underneath him, his arms holding him tight and close, and then Johnny pulled away from his mouth, buried his face where Daniel’s neck met his shoulder and his grip turned into a crush for a second before he flopped down again, panting hard, suddenly felt all loose.

“Uh- did- did you-”

“Shut up.”

“No, it’s, uh, it’s fine, it’s- woah!”

Johnny flipped them over, spinning them over in a half circle, and now he was on top, caging Daniel in with elbows and knees, looking all sweaty and smug over him. Daniel ran fingers down from his forehead to his neck. Yeah, he was all warmed up, all glowing, job well done Daniel. 

“That’s not a karate move.”

“I did wrestling for a bit.”

“Uh, cool.”

“Can I touch you?”

“Uh, yeah, I guess, if you really want- oh holy _moly-_ ”

Daniel had to close his eyes, because the way Johnny looked at him, all intense and searching like he was some kinda lighthouse or something, that was just too much to handle, especially with his hand gently pulling the blanket Daniel was wrapped in away, then kind of skating down his body, and then the way he whispered “Daniel”, yeah, there was no way he could look at him doing all that.

Honestly, he still wasn't even sure he wasn't dreaming.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Made another [playlist](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/10Rxak0pDLe6NiiCNTnJdE?si=481d4306a38948e3) <3

Johnny woke up into a dream. Daniel LaRusso was lying asleep close and loose-limbed, caged in by Johnny's arms, breathing deep and even, the black brush of his hair a little messy. Johnny quieted his own breath, didn't want Daniel to wake up. It felt so fragile. Not just Daniel's sleep, but all of it. It was too good, too sweet. All of the previous night, trading kisses and touches until Johnny was sure the last thing he saw before he passed out was a glimmer of sunlight in Daniel's hair. And just - having somewhere to go. He'd run away from Dutch and his little gang, somewhere less crowded, and boy, had the drug thing done a number on that guy. He had tenacity, but no focus, no real strength. And he still had the need to show off. So when he came after Johnny with a high kick - a badly done one, he didn't pull back properly or quickly, and Johnny grabbed his leg, kicked him in the balls and then in the shin and he crumpled up in a heap on the ground, his friends tried rushing him but Johnny was too quick, dodged, elbowed one in the face and gave another an upper cut, and while they were staggering he decided to make an example of the last guy, went after him with a kick combo, back leg, front leg, roundhouse, he was like a rag doll on every bit of impact, and then they ran away, as well as they could, and Dutch got up on all fours, stared daggers at him, had to hand it to the guy, Kreese had beaten all sense of fear out of him. _"This isn't over, Johnny boy."_ Johnny just walked away. But he hadn't felt safe returning to the house, felt paranoid he was being followed, watched. He didn't want to make his problems Daniel's problems. He even considered not going back at all. Well, for a moment. But he'd gone back, of course he had, and well, that turned out to be Johnny Lawrence's best decision in a while.

Daniel had kissed him.

Even better.

Daniel had kissed him _first_.

Without even meaning to, he pulled Daniel's body closer. Daniel sighed, and it was like he became firmer and realer against him, the stupor of sleep dissipating from his bones. Fuck. Johnny braced himself. For apologies, for regrets, for panic. Instead, Daniel turned around in his arms, flopped a long arm over Johnny's waist and huffed into his clavicle, then looked up at him through his eyelashes with sleepy brown eyes. "Hey."

"Hey," Johnny said, and his mouth felt dry.

"And good morning to you too," Daniel mumbled, jerking a hand downwards inbetween their bodies until he reached where Johnny was half-hard against his thigh, then shifted, lined them up, pressed full lips to Johnny's chest and Johnny gasped into black hair when his hand started working both of them at once.

When Daniel came he made this wavery, almost surprised sound, and that pushed Johnny over the edge too and he dug his fingers into the skin of Daniel's back, so tense, until he breathed out, wondered a little at the sensation of Daniel's cum cooling on his stomach.

"Yeah, I need a shower," Johnny said.

"Race you."

"What- hey!"

Daniel flung himself over Johnny's body and Johnny grabbed after him, got one leg, Daniel fell over the side of the bed and onto the floor, used his elbows to push away from where Johnny tried pulling him back.

In the end, it was a tie.

Karate, reading, TV and all their other activities kind of took a backseat that day. Too much else to keep them busy. Trying to fit two people in a shower, that was new, Johnny's mouth mapping a trail down Daniel's body, hands meeting hands and hips meeting hips and kisses so long they might as well be conversations. When it was getting a little cooler and darker outside they were in bed, sitting side by side, Daniel in the crook of Johnny's arm, and they were just talking, quietly, might as well do some of that too.

"Am I the first guy you did this with?" Daniel asked, suddenly.

"No," Johnny said, honestly. Daniel nodded, a jerky nod, pressed his lips together and his mouth made a line. Johnny frowned. "wait. Does that... bother you?"

"No, no."

Johnny grinned. "Yes it does!"

"No, it doesn't, and you don't have to look so pleased about it anyway."

Johnny laughed, sagged a little into Daniel's side. "Does it help if I say it's never been this good before?"

"Yeah. Yeah, maybe a little." Daniel shrugged, his skinny shoulder jabbing into Johnny. "I just, never would have thought it about you, in a million years."

Johnny sighed. "Well, I didn't advertise it. But I guess I knew for years."

"Even when you were with Ali?"

"Yeah. You remember my friend Bobby?"

"I remember his foot in my knee, yeah."

"He was my best friend since I was a kid. And I was - guess I was in love with him."

Daniel made a face. "That guy? Okay."

"Hey, you don't know him, okay? Lay off."

"I know how he fights."

"I already told you- okay, nevermind. I'm trying to tell you something here."

"Sorry."

"He uh. After the tournament? We were smoking in my room, talking, and uh, well, I kissed him, and, uh-" Daniel had tensed up just at the veiled mention of the joint, so Johnny decided not to go into much more detail. "we started fooling around a little, I could tell he wasn't that into it but I guess I hoped he would be we did it long enough, and uh, in walks my stepdad."

"Oh no!"

"Yeah. And you know, he calls me a faggot, a cocksucker, a nancy, whatever, you know, and I think, I'm either getting out of here or I'm going to kill him. So I left. And I haven't been back since. And you know, I dropped out, been just, trying to survive. Slept rough a bit. Worked as a bouncer for a bit. Got into it with Dutch. Just kinda drifted, really, until I met you." Johnny cleared his throat. "Now you know."

Daniel stared. Then he put both arms around him, hugged him. "Oh, Johnny."

Johnny hugged back, swallowed.

"You can cry if you want," Daniel said softly, put a hand gentle on the back of his neck. "it's fine."

Johnny pulled away. "No. I don't cry."

"Huh?"

Johnny made a face. "Real men don't cry."

Daniel was quiet for a moment and Johnny wondered if he'd offended him, and then he crawled over his body and walked naked over to his jacket, got something out of the pocket and came back with it. It was his wallet. Johnny frowned. Daniel got back in bed under the covers, Johnny put his arm back around his shoulders. _Mine, mine._ Daniel got out a little passport size picture of a man and a woman.

"That's my mom, and that's my dad." He flipped it, and Johnny could see _Lucille & David April 16th 1964_ written on the back in faded cursive. "This was taken in 64, couple years before I was born."

"Good looking couple." They were. Lucille had a huge, bright smile, a little like Daniel's, and a stylish beehive. David had dark eyes and hair and pouty lips and looked like he could be on the cover of some old hit record, singing the Italian classics.

"Uh huh. They were crazy about each other. Started dating in high school. My mom said my dad used to be so funny he could make her pee herself."

"Okay. Useful skill."

"I never knew him as funny. Later the same year this picture was taken was his first tour in Nam."

Johnny's interest perked. "He was a soldier?" He loved war stuff. Had thought about enlisting.

"Yeah. Did three tours. Came back sadder and more serious every time. Never cried, though." Daniel sighed. "Drowned himself in the reservoir when I was eight."

"Oh- uh, shit. Sorry."

"So my mom always told me it's fine if you need to cry," Daniel said lightly. "better to let it out then let it eat you up from the inside."

"Jesus, Daniel." He flushed a little. He had thought about it. But it had just been a thought, just in passing, everybody thinks about ending it at least once in their life, right?

"Just saying." He replaced the photo in the wallet, put it on the sidetable. "Hey, now I ruined the mood anyway, wanna watch a movie?"

"Yeah, okay. I wanna try Night Of The Hunter, that sounds kinda badass."

"Sure. Oh, oh, and maybe after, we can drive out to the strip mall!"

"Why? You need something?"

"Nah, I just thought it was real fun, last time. I like malls, even if I can't afford anything, I just like looking at the stuff."

Johnny nodded. "I have an idea."


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just ripping off Career Opportunities don't mind me

It took a couple days before Daniel got to know what Johnny’s idea was. They never did make it to the strip mall that night. They watched that movie Johnny wanted to watch – it was awesome, probably the best out of the taped classics Mr Miyagi had they’d watched so far – and when it was over Johnny insisted they rewind it and watch it again. While they were waiting for the tape to rewind Daniel grabbed a marker and wrote LOVE and HATE across Johnny’s hands and he looked so gleeful, so happy, at such a childish little thing, that it made Daniel happy too, like they were one and the same, and Johnny’s happiness glowed in him like there was nothing separating them. 

The next day they woke up late again, fooled around some more, and after Daniel led Johnny by his hands into the bonsai room and let him help with the watering and fertilizing and then put him in front of “his” bonsai, let him tend to it while Daniel pruned the others with a light, deft hand. He talked all the while about how often they needed watering, how often they needed fertilizer, what kind worked best, how Mr Miyagi had a little compost pile where he made his own stuff they really liked, how they looked their best when they got a little shower with the spritzer outside watering days, kept em all green and plump, and it was important to talk to them too (he thought he heard Johnny mutter “bad luck otherwise” but ignored it), or sing, Daniel figured they really liked Springsteen, they had good taste, understood the plight of the working man.

They sparred that afternoon, but it was a weird sort of sparring, with a different sort of eyecontact than you'd usually have with your opponent, and when Johnny felled Daniel to the ground he didn't let him get up, which wasn't very sportsmanlike, and then there was some contact that if it wasn't illegal in a tournament situation probably should be. 

That night Johnny stepped out of the shower, and Daniel was at the kitchen table drinking some green tea and trying to write a letter to Mr Miyagi which could tell him all about how happy he was without going into any sort of detail, which wasn't all that easy, as it was all those pretty little details that made up just how exciting and beautiful it was, being with Johnny Lawrence. The way his arm draped around Daniel's shoulder, the way his smiles were so rare that when you got one it felt winning first prize in the lottery, the way he crossed his eyes in concentration when he read, even though he never read anything without pictures, the way he made this little sigh of pleasure when he got to the creamy centre of a Hostess cupcake, the way he touched Daniel like he was the most precious thing on the surface of the Earth. And, most pressingly on Daniel's mind currently, how he looked naked and dripping, drying himself off with a white towel. Tanned from the sun, all defined with muscle, mostly hairless, knowing blue eyes looking back defiantly. Daniel bit his bottom lip, twirled his pen around in his hand. 

“Still wanna hit the mall?”

“Um. Huh? What? Mall?” Daniel's head snapped over to look at the clock on the radio. “It's nearly midnight. It'll all be closed.”

“Trust me?”

Daniel frowned, but smiled, and nodded.

*

“Johnny, what are we doing?” Daniel looked around nervously. There weren't any other people around near the large Sunset mall, which closed more than two hours ago. Daniel was in jeans and one of his sleeveless black shirts, and felt the chill. He should have worn a jacket. “We're not doing anything illegal?”

Johnny looked at him over his shoulder with a smirk, strode ahead and then stood on a spot, waved his hands around, like he was shipwrecked on a desert island, trying to catch the attention of a trawler. 

“What are you doing?”

“Wait.”

A couple of minutes later a door opened and a security guard came outside. He was a young-looking, black, skinny guy with a slim moustache. Daniel swallowed, apologies forming in his throat.

“Well if it isn't the lone ranger.”

“Hey, Mike.”

“What are you doing here?”

“Uh, well, you said you owed me one, and uh, Daniel here really likes malls, so, I wondered if you'd let us in for a bit?”

“Well. Not really what I had in mind.” The guard tilted his head, looked at Daniel. “He cute though. How old are you, baby?”

Daniel frowned. “I'm eighteen,” he said, and it came out indignant.

“Sure you are.”

“Come on, Mike. We'll be careful.”

The guard nodded. “You got two hours before the cleaning staff arrives.”

Johnny slapped his shoulder. “Thanks, man.” Then he stretched his hand out and smiled at Daniel, and a little unsurely, Daniel took a hold of it. They followed the guard in the door, into a little office with a lot of screens with security cameras, mostly showing the outside, and then he opened another door into the mall, hit a switch, and it lit up with cold white light like magic. 

“Just knock when you're ready to leave.”

He closed the door behind them, and Johnny put his arm around Daniel's shoulder, pulled him close. “This is crazy, we're not allowed to be here,” Daniel whispered.

“It's gonna be fine. Who's gonna get us, security?”

“Uh yeah- but uh-”

“Let's explore.”

“Johnny?”

“Yeah?”

“How do you know that guy?”

“Oh, I helped him out once. Some assholes were beating him up.”

“Lone ranger, huh?”

Johnny started humming the Wilhelm Tell ouverture and Daniel laughed. 

At first he clung to Johnny, like he was afraid of something, but after a while he drifted off, went over to look at the books. He found one on Japan, flicked through, found a chapter about Okinawa. “Here,” he said, showing Johnny. “this is where Mr Miyagi is right now.” He sighed. “Man, I miss him. It's not right, me not being with him when he needs me.”

“You can still be there for him when he comes back.”

Daniel nodded. “I know,” he whispered.

“Come on,” Johnny said, took the book and replaced it on the shelf. “We're not here to think about sad stuff. I know where to go.”

“Are you sure this is gonna be okay,” Daniel asked again as Johnny fastened the second rollerblade on his foot.

“Daniel, if you were gonna buy a pair of rollerblades, wouldn't you wanna try them first?”

“Well, yeah-” 

“Same principle. We'll put them back when we're done.” Then he got up, raised an eyebrow, and skated off through the aisles. 

“Hey, wait!”

Daniel got up, a little tentatively – he'd barely tried rollerblading before – and only got a couple of feet before he lost his balance, fell on his ass, with a loud “woah!”

Johnny turned to look at him, skated back, and helped him up. “Here,” he said, grabbing his hand when he was standing again. “hold on to me. This should be your thing, right? Balance?”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“You have to do it slow. If you try to go too fast you'll fall. Sweep your leg out slow, like that, and don't do anything else until you start to slow.” 

Daniel tried it, holding on to Johnny, and grinned. He got the hang of it in a while. They raced through apparel, and they tried on different sunglasses. In the instrument section Johnny demonstrated his drumming skills. In the aquarium section they looked at pretty goldfish and angelfish and clownfish swimming in blue little worlds.

Then Daniel skated along to the music section. “Let's play something.”

Johnny skated behind the register and found the player. “They've got some options here. Ooh, REO Speedwagon.” He smirked, then hit a button. Daniel grinned when he recognized the song. 

“This isn't Speedwagon.”

“Nope.”

 _Nobody on the road, nobody on the beach,_ the song intoned. And Daniel reached his hands out. Johnny skated over, took them. 

“You're getting the hang of skating.”

“No, you gotta dance with me.”

Johnny grimaced. “I don't dance.”

“Tough.”

It wasn't as easy to dance on rollerblades as in sneakers, but it was still real fun. Johnny was a little clumsy with it but stared at him all intense and serious throughout, until he pulled him real close and kissed him, hands tight on Daniel's waist, and Daniel parted his lips for him, lost himself in it, pushed his body close to Johnny's.

He wasn't sure how he could tell Mr Miyagi about this, either.


End file.
